genius news.

jicydak, i just started watching the wire on dvd. every wednesday, lillywhitefish and i (and sometimes g.animalz, too. if attendees were vowels, she would be the Y.) have wire wednesdays, during which i try to power through as many episodes as possible before lilly falls asleep on the couch (last week, we made it through .5). joel started with us when he was visiting, and now he's also watching them at home. we just finished season one, but he's probably farther along.

we all love the show, so you can imagine my delight to hear this morning that its creator, david simon, was just awarded a macarthur genius grant!

David Simon, creator of the HBO television series "The Wire," is among 23 recipients of this year's MacArthur Foundation "genius grants" - news that left him with what he described as "a vague sense of guilt."

The $500,000 grants were announced Tuesday by the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The money, paid quarterly over five years, comes with no strings, allowing winners unfettered freedom to pursue their creativity.

Simon's guilt stemmed from already being amply funded in an industry that's "a little bit recession-proof," he said. Still, the award's prestige will go far with network executives. While critically acclaimed, Simon's dissection of urban problems in "The Wire" and more recently "Treme" hasn't yet scored Emmys or high Nielsen ratings.

"It makes it easier to go into the room with the network and argue against doing the usual thing in television," Simon said. His next pitch? The history of the CIA since World War II and a housing desegregation fight in Yonkers are two subjects inspiring him now. "Not all these things have the best possible commercial outlook," he said. (via)

RIP wallace!! (spoiler alert retroactive!)